


Overload.

by AmeFox (SCFox)



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22818307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SCFox/pseuds/AmeFox
Summary: Spoilers for the current season. I haven't written in a long time, and this was a jumble that I'm putting out to get back in to the swing of things. The Doctor is slowly cracking, and she's not able to contain it.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	Overload.

There was a fairly persistent, though not intrusive, humming in the control room, as The Doctor stared intently at something on the screen. Her face was lit up by its faint blue light and she seemed to be completely absorbed in it. Then, all of a sudden out of nowhere, she suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Thanks for telling me Graham, I don’t know how I can help but I’m happy to be a sounding board.”

She looked around, only to find that she was completely alone and must have entirely spaced out again. She gave a little “Oh,” wondering how long she had actually been absorbed in her own thoughts and how much she had missed her friends saying. At a loss about what to do, she just nonchalantly strolled around the room. She didn’t like it. It was too quiet, and she was left alone with her thoughts.

They automatically took her back to what The Master had said, and her home planet being destroyed, and lately the odd nightmare she had been given by the Immortals. They looped around her mind and she desperately tried to push them away, but without the distraction of Graham, Yas and Ryan, she was left to her own devices.

Just as the voices started screaming horrifyingly in her ears again, the TARDIS whooshed to life.

“Perfect. Crisis. Just what I need.” She was actually happy about it.

What was slightly more alarming was when the warning siren of the TARDIS went off as it teetered and juddered violently off kilter. The Doctor almost fell over with the force, just as Graham, Yas and Ryan stumbled blearily and panicked into the console, obviously having been rudely awakened.

“Doc? What’s going on?” Graham, as ever, seemed the least worried.

“Uh. Good question that. Not sure. Trying to find out,” came the rapid response.

“Can we help?” suggested Ryan.

“Again. Not sure. Try that button…” she gestured vaguely to the console, and Ryan looked at Yas for confirmation, she merely shrugged.

However, before he even had the chance to press it, the TARDIS suddenly froze in place, and Graham, Yas and Ryan, teleported out in a flash of green. Moments later, the machine came to a complete stop, the lights going out. The Doctor couldn’t her anything, until.  
  
“Target neutralised.” The voice was muffled.

As she desperately tried to start up her machine again, it sparked and shocked her, and she jumped back, shaking her hand.

“What did they do to you girl?” The Doctor was getting annoyed now.

The unmistakeable sound of marching boots and many people crescended in her ears, until it was right outside her door, and then stopped.

“We have you surrounded and your machine is going nowhere. Come out with your hands up.” It was a middle-aged voice, stern and projected.

The Doctor wasn’t immediately concerned, she had been in many a similar situation before, and figured she had better play along, pocketing her psychic paper and her screwdriver. Whoever was out there clearly had her friends with them, so she took a deep breath, puffed out her chest, and put on her most serious face.

She strode confidently out of her doors, and was greeted by no less than thirty people, dressed in navy-blue and grey armour, all shapes and sizes, but she could see no faces as they all wore helmets. Each one had something pointed at her.

“Oh, hello. I didn’t get the note about the dress code. Have you seen my mates?”

There was no response, and no sign of the others. From what space between soldiers she could see, The Doctor appeared to be in a reasonably sized stadium-like room, with her currently immobilised and offline TARDIS behind her. The roof was made of glass, and she could see starts stretching out above her. So, she was in space. Fairly deep, judging by the constellations. Then she spotted something. Up to the top of the stands, behind some kind of glass barricade, were Yas, Ryan and Graham.

“Fam! You’re there!” her tone changed as she turned on the soldiers, “Let them go. What do you want?”

She made a move towards them, and was immediately cut off by crossed, she wasn’t even sure what they were, rifles? That just barely avoided pressing in to her windpipe. Relenting, she stepped back again.

“They are free to go where they wish, now they’re safe from you.” It was that stern voice again.

“What?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow, as she faintly heard Yas’ voice speak in time with her.

There was a brief shifting of individuals as the soldiers parted to let through a woman, the only one whose face was visible. She was tall, and clearly athletic. She had red hair that was streaked with white, and was starting to show signs of middle-age on her face. Notably, she had only one eye. The other was covered by a huge scar that ran all down the right of her face. It had obviously been a nasty injury, which was why The Doctor hesitated slightly.

“On behalf of The Shadow Proclamation, The Prisoner, hitherto known as The Doctor, has been arrested for the heinous crimes recorded as follows…”

“Now hang on a minute, I’ve done nothing wrong.” Interrupted The Doctor, “Lately…” she murmured quietly afterwards.

“That’s right! If anything, you should be thanking her for clearing up a load of crimes,” agreed Ryan.

The scarred women turned and glanced up on them, with what seemed almost like pity in her eyes, but they far enough away to not notice that. The Doctor, however, suddenly swallowed and remained quiet for a moment.

“What are you charging me with?” she finally asked. The knowing edge to her voice caused her three companions to look at one another.

What happened next was unexpected at the very least. The glass dome of the arena shimmered and shifted, finally focusing on images that flashed and flickered across it. None of them were positive. There was a lot of fire, and death. A lot of war, a trail of destruction. Everything that had ever gone badly for The Doctor, every painful memory, every difficult decision that ended up in losing someone, was being broadcast to the entire gathered army and her companions. There were some images that were ingrained on The Doctor’s mind most of all. A young boy, named Adric, crashing to earth in a fiery blaze; a blonde woman the same age as Yas and Ryan sealed away by a white wall; another young woman, Bill, murdered and encased in metal and a magnificent amber-coloured planet brought to its knees, completely annihilated. Then, last but not least, The Doctor handing over a strange silvery entity to The Lone Cyberman.

“Igniting a war, leading to millions of innocent lives lost and a fractured universe.” The one-eyed woman’s voice was very matter-of-fact. “How do you plead?”

The Doctor stared up, at the worried faces of her three companions. She had thrown a lot at them, without much warning, and they had no chance to properly talk. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. It was easier to be alone if the people around you were the ones that chose to make that decision. It would have been at least one thing less for her to worry about. She turned to her accuser, meeting her eye line.

“Can you take them home?”

“Yes.” Replied the still stern, but slightly sympathetic woman.

“Guilty.”

“What?! No!” protested Yas, “Doctor, we have to fix this! We have to get out of here!”

The Doctor couldn’t meet her gaze, and turned away. The screen cleared, and the windows behind which they sat darkened. The Doctor glanced around at all the faceless, nameless people in the room, trying to convince herself that it was best for her friends to be home and safe, and to live their lives. She didn’t even protest when her arms were wrenched behind her back and she was bound. The sea of blue and grey parted, and the Doctor was marched across the floor, not a hint of sympathy or even identity in any of them.

As she was taken to large metal doors however, she felt a sudden buzz. A slight flare of warmth. One of the guards had turned and was looking in her direction. For just the briefest of moments, the glass on the armour cleared and she saw a face. Female, no distinguishing features, until she met her eyes. They didn’t flinch or move away from the prisoner’s gaze. She was sure there was even a slight nod of the head, but looking around, nobody else spotted it.

The Doctor wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed. She was in a cell of sorts, it seemed to be made of black glass, and it was dark. There was a small window high up towards the ceiling, and some kind of ethereal glow from a kind of floating orb that resembled candlelight. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. She hadn’t been sentenced; she was in holding. She bitterly felt the fact that she had just shoved her friends away, without even the courtesy of looking at them.

Not only that, she had completely snapped at them. It wasn’t fair, she knew that, they were only human, and two of them barely out of childhood. She just couldn’t hold it in any more. There was no warning, and she hadn’t even tried to open up to them. Hours seemed to pass and she stared at the blank wall. She couldn’t shake all the images out of her head, and she felt suddenly on the edge of bawling, quickly she got up and started buzzing like a hummingbird. A distraction, she needed a distraction. She pounded on the walls.

“Hey! Hello?! Can I get some food down here? Or maybe some explanation? What’s my sentence? Have you taken my friends to safety?”

The feelings were rising up more, and she didn’t want to face them. She started panicking, scrambling to restore her barriers. She started to recite the periodic table just to get her mind off it. Then backwards, then all thousand plus in alphabetical order, how they had been discovered. Then she ran out, and the image of her three friends incinerated and becoming Cybermen, dreamed up from her own imagination, stopped her dead.

An all-consuming rage possessed her, and she screamed furiously, kicking the small metal chair that furnished the cell clear across it. It landed with a loud crash and a bent leg, and the burning pain in her foot wasn’t enough. She punched the wall as hard as she could, trying to break through the glass. It made no dent but her knuckles were bleeding and she was still angry. She paced the cell, frustrated at how small it was. She yelled at the empty sky.

“Is this what you wanted?! Is this how it works?! You punish me by driving me mad? Wouldn’t be the first time! Look at me, The Oncoming Storm, stuck in a box, knowing the world may end soon if it hasn’t already!”

She was genuinely like a trapped wild animal; she couldn’t even think straight. She didn’t like it when she couldn’t think straight. “If you have any mercy you’ll kill me right now instead of putting me through this! I don’t care how, but GET ME OUT!”

She slammed both hands on the glass, calling out into the void, panting and sweating, and caught sight of her own, crazed, reflection. She had seen that expression before. The Master’s unhinged face stared back at her. As she came to her senses, she saw one of the soldiers, whose body language clearly showed they had been startled. They had answered her calls, but she didn’t know how long they had been there. Had they just seen all that? She couldn’t see their face, but the vibe coming off them was most definitely fear.

She turned her back on the wall, and felt her legs buckle as she slumped to the ground. It was all coming out. She started trembling, her eyes welled up, but she didn’t cry. She just couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. Through perhaps sheer exhaustion, she dropped her head and hugged her knees, back pressed against the glass, and now she wasn’t fighting it with every fibre of her being, she couldn’t stop the tears flowing.

She was suddenly somewhere else. A dream perhaps? She recognised where she was. Lake Geneva. It was a bright but cold day, and the wall she was leaning on had become a tree. She wasn’t alone. She inhaled sharply, aware of a presence, but not of who it was.

“I thought this would be more comfortable for you.”

On the opposite side of the trunk, though The Doctor hadn’t looked behind her yet, sat a woman. Her appearance was similar in age to her own currently assumed one. She had curly dark brown hair, swept back in a ponytail, bright green eyes. She wore just a plain white tshirt with long sleeves, and a sleeveless light blue hoody over the top.

“Who are you? Where am I?” The Doctor asked, not unkindly, but not endearingly. Tiredly.

“My name is Anna. You’re still in your cell in Xeinia.”

“Then how am I here? Are you in my head?”

“Yes. Apologies. If you want me to leave I can. I tried to ask your permission, but you didn’t respond. You were…” Was this the soldier? Free of armour?

“I didn’t hear you. How are you in my head?”

There was no immediate response. Instead, her companion stood up, then walked around and crouched down in front of The Doctor. She seemed very familiar, but The Doctor couldn’t quite place her. She reached out her hand, taking off a leather glove; and fascinated, The Doctor held up her own bruised and bloody one. There was a sudden jolt of warmth, of peace, that she couldn’t explain or control as the injuries faded. The penny dropped, and she looked at the curly-haired woman.

“But, you don’t exist anymore.”

“We do. But understandably we tend to stay more isolated.”

“An Empath. A true Empath. You can control neurones and synapses. Nervous systems. You can literally feel what other people are feeling, or make them feel what you do…” The realisation suddenly hit her and she stood up and backed away.

Anna put her glove back on and gave a small smile. “It’s ok, this keeps it in check.”

“That’s still not the big question. Why are you here. Xeinia is an even more advanced form of The Storm Cage. I’m fairly sure someone with your, abilities, is not well suited to this kind of life.”

“I integrated. As long as I don’t touch anyone, I’m ok. It took a while and a little bit of creative thinking, but I made a promise to somebody. I’m here for you.”

The Doctor backed up a step at this, instantly suspicious. How did somebody find a recluse like an Empath? They weren’t a race in their own right. They were a kind of mutation, that could attach itself to any life form, and it usually occurred during significant events. Especially ones where there was a lot of darkness and turbulence, catastrophes, almost as a reminder that hope was not lost. It wasn’t something to be undertaken lightly. Nor was it a responsibility many wanted. Though they didn’t have a choice. When there was a disaster, if you looked for the helpers, more often than not, they were an Empath.

“Me? Why?”

Anna looked up, and met The Doctor’s gaze without flinching. Her eyes were bright green, not dissimilar to the Time Lord’s own. “You know why, in your hearts.”

The scenery disappeared around them and The Doctor was back in her cell, still leaning against it, with everything just dark and black around her. Except she wasn’t alone this time. Back to back with her, on the outside of the wall, was the soldier. The soldier was mirroring The Doctor’s position, and the helmet had come off. It was Anna.

“How much do you know about this place, Doctor?”

“The worst people in all time of space come here to be sentenced. It’s at the edge of the universe, only accessible by The Soldiers. They track you down, wherever you are, whoever you are, to make you pay your dues.”

Anna remained quiet, but slowly nodded, just the once. “And do you know how they do that?” The Doctor shook her head, she hadn’t thought about it much. Execution, likely, community service perhaps. Anna sighed. “Because there is nobody that ends up here, that is more qualified to think up the most horrendous, terrifying and creative punishments, than the offenders themselves.”

“You mean…”

“They are forced to relive their crimes. Over and over. Then they are forced to relive their crimes effects on the victims.” Anna was speaking plainly, but seemed slightly unnerved by the brutality of it all.

The Doctor suddenly felt really quite sick. Her hearts were racing painfully, and her brain felt like it was on fire, like something was pounding at it. Full blown panic attack, it hurt to breathe and she was struggling to do so.

“See. Already happening,” came Anna’s voice. “You asked me why I was here. Why for you. Because you’re spiralling. You don’t belong here. You’re already trying to make amends. Doctor. You have a war to stop, or win, or lose. Whichever, you need to be there. But you need to let go.”

“Why should I trust you?” The Doctor was ashamed that anyone had seen her lose control. Especially a stranger. Even more mortifyingly, the one person who could literally feel it.

There was a long silence. Then footsteps and clattering. Anna had stood up, and The Doctor turned around. She unhitched the armour, and it fell to the floor. She was in the previous outfit. The white tshirt, the blue hoodie. Now, The Doctor saw the jeans, the knee-high brown boots. And clipped on her waist, a brown belt with two pouches. There was a click, and the cell door opened. No alarms, no resistance. Anna came over and crouched in front of the Doctor.

“Because my mother just left for the library, and she’d kill me if I let anything happen to you.”

It was hard to describe the feeling that came over The Doctor. She stared up at Anna’s face, and realised why she looked familiar at the lake. She was the spitting image of her wife. Curly hair and all, although her hair and eyes were different, and she was younger. The Doctor briefly looked her up and down, and spotted a familiar blue journal and a sonic screwdriver in the pouches of her belt. The journal was full to bursting, and well worn. Her gaze drifted up to her face, and all she could see was River Song smiling at her, before the image realigned itself to be the girl.

The Doctor touched the girl’s cheek, running her hand through her hair. She knew. She knew where her mother was going. Yet in her own grief, she had answered a dying woman’s wish. The wish to be here. To help. The Doctor didn’t want to push her away. She had deliberately distanced herself from Yas, Ryan and Graham. Easier to go if you didn’t get attached. Or easier to deal with if they were lost, like Bill. This time she couldn’t let her go. She got to her feet, as did Anna, and there was a hesitation as the two of them just stared at each other. Trying to work out how to play it.

“Talk to me.” Anna’s voice was soft and gentle. “Stop torturing yourself.”

Unbidden, The Doctor’s eyes filled with tears and she desperately tried to blink them back, swallowing awkwardly, trying to shake it off, but Anna took her hands, and she didn’t resist. Eventually, her shoulders slumped and her jaw unclenched, and Anna brought her close, wrapping her arms around her. She was ever so slightly shorter, but only by maybe an inch. The Doctor rested her head on Anna’s shoulder. She even smelled like River. Then she buried her head in the woman’s neck, hiding her face, closed her eyes and clung on to her for dear life.

Everything she had been bottling up and trying to keep down came welling to the forefront. She was acutely aware that she was soaking Anna’s clothes with her silent tears, but it was cathartic. She couldn’t remember the last time she didn’t feel completely alone. That she felt safe enough to let it out, without it being a pressure cooker that exploded and burned everyone around. Like she had at her companions. She had known it was unhealthy, but she literally couldn’t work out how to deal with it.

It was hard to tell how long they stood there, Anna more or less propping up the Doctor, who noticed that she was incredibly strong, and warm. Just like River. Just like her other friends, even the ones she had shouted at. She had lost so, so many. But she was starting to remember what she had said once before herself. That they were not really gone. She carried them.

“I don’t know how to fix this one.”

“The tallest mountains have the most layers to stand on. To reach up in to the sky. They don’t do it on their own. They’re made up of so many different things, never just one.” The Doctor glanced at her. How did she know about that speech? “The first thing to do. Don’t lose hope. The nights are dark and long, full of nightmares and drenched in fear. But the sun always rises. Maybe not for a while. But it does.”

“What if it doesn’t this time?” The Doctor wiped her face and looked down at her new confidante, without dropping her grip.

“What if it does?”

“I still need to get off this planet.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

Though the full embrace was broken, Anna took The Doctor’s hand, and walked right out of the door. The Doctor, feeling entirely revived and clear headed now, still looked concerned as she was led through corridors and rooms of black glass, with faintly glowing lights. The ceiling was all glass, showing the stars and planets. They came to a fairly ordinary looking metal door, with a keypad next to it. Anna held up her own, well, River’s, sonic screwdriver, and the door opened. They came in to what was clearly an office. It was, surprisingly mundane. A panoramic window allowed the whole of space to be viewed at the back. In front of that was a black desk, and the rooms was full of files and bookshelves. There was also somebody standing and looking out of the window. She had red hair, and when she turned to face them, one eye.

“General Barin.” Anna saluted.

The woman, Barin, gave a small nod of acknowledgement. Then she turned to The Doctor.

“Hang on a minute. What’s going on here?” The Doctor was on edge again.

Barin lifted a hand to calm her, “It worked then?” she turned to Anna.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“What worked?! Who are you?”

“My name is General Meredith Barin. Had I not met Anna here, I would be missing more than an eye.” She surveyed the pair of them, “I was a soldier. In the Time War. My unit was charged with evacuating innocents. But that is a story for another time. Most recently, I came up with the design for Xeinia.”

“The Prison? You came up with the idea of forcing people to punish themselves?!”

“Only in a few cases. Ones we couldn’t save from their own minds. More often than not, self-reflection lead to making amends. Then, rehabilitation,” continued Meredith. “With a 90% success rate.” She looked at Anna, “With help from this marvelous young lady. The Empath.”

The Doctor looked at Anna in a new light as she came to the realisation. “The Time War? That’s what made you an Empath? You were there?”

Anna looked down and nodded. “By accident. I was, young, travelling, and got caught up.”

“But you said River was your mother?”

The curly-haired woman nodded, “She was. Is. I spent most of my life with her, but she wasn’t the only one who took care of me.”

“If your focus is rehabilitation, why did you hijack my ship, kidnap my friends and make me do that to them?! I don’t like being manipulated.” The Doctor's voice was rising again.

“You weren’t.” Meredith stared at her, genuinely surprised, “The Rehabilitation here, it is built by the thoughts and feelings of the individual. You were drowning under so much guilt and battling with so much pain and anger, that you, if unconsciously, brought yourself here. Your ship tapped into your emotional state, and panicked. You hated what you were becoming and you wanted to be punished. So, the experience treated you as such.”

The Doctor stopped dead. She really was so very, very angry. Furious even. More than any other emotion. It burned her from the inside out, and the realisation was frightening. The fact that she had even scared the TARDIS? Her one faithful companion throughout all of time and space. What must the others have thought of her? After Anna had held her through her tears, she immediately thought she was being betrayed when she took her to the office. Her first reaction was defensiveness and mistrust. The others must have picked up on it too, Meredith glanced at Anna after the sudden outburst, and Anna looked hesitant. The Doctor actually felt a lead weight in her stomach. Was she scaring someone else away?

“Anna. Are you sure?” Meredith’s voice was one of tired experience, that was trying not to be patronising. It was clear there was a huge amount of respect between the pair of them, whatever their differences. "She doesn't seem quite, stable."

"Stability is not one of my defining features." murmured The Doctor.

Then both Meredith and The Doctor saw the expression on Anna's face turn from trepidation to determination. “I made a promise. I’m sure.”

“Then go.” There was a beat, “But whatever happens…on your head be it.”

Anna flinched slightly, and swallowed, before nodding and turning to leave. The Doctor followed her. She knew for a fact that Meredith was referring to whatever happened because of her. But it took her a moment to twig what that actually meant.

“There you go Doctor,” said Anna with a half-hearted smile, “It’s not just on you anymore. You’re officially my responsibility. We should go. I think there’s some people you need to see.”

The Doctor noticed that all the other soldiers seemed to have gone. Whether off duty for the night, or not even in the prison any more, she wasn’t sure. Had she been deemed low risk enough to go unopposed? Or was it part of her own mental state? Had her mind willed them away? They walked in silence, but there was some strange sense, or sound, that The Doctor was subconsciously picking up on. A low thud. Periodic, but persistent. They finally came to the room that she had first been in, the arena. It was completely deserted, but the noise was louder. She recognised it, but once again, couldn’t place it.

“What’s that noise?” she stopped, trying to pinpoint it.

Anna looked a mixture of surprised and relieved. “You can hear it?”

The Doctor realised the sound was, in her head. It was a familiar sound. Two heart beats. There was her own, and then, recognition. There was another. A set. Two more heart beats. She was telepathically picking up another Time Lord. She stopped and saw the other woman in yet another new light.

“Contact…?” The Doctor’s voice wavered slightly, even though she wasn't actually speaking.

“Contact.”

Anna stopped in place, allowing The Doctor to touch her mind. In trepidation, The Doctor sunk down in to the depths of Anna’s life and history. She saw her has a young girl, sharply in focus though other figures interacted with her. As a baby, being cradled in the arms of so many. A lot of love, a lot of laughter. Sadness and loneliness, but a happy childhood. Stars, planets, eras, she had visited so many. The Doctor even saw familiar images similar to her own recollection of the Time War. This mental Anna's age shifted periodically, but she was always kind and always hopeful. There were other figures The Doctor recognised, but they were out of focus. She saw Anna now, and she saw herself, lonely and afraid in the cage. She saw her meltdown through Anna’s eyes, and felt no fear or judgement, just sadness, wanting to help. She disconnected from the other woman, and saw behind her, the TARDIS. It had ma terialised, and she had been so absorbed in the telepathy she hadn’t heard it.

“You’re a Time Lord? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Not for me to tell. You had to realise for yourself.”

“Who are you really, how old are you? Where are you from?”

Anna didn’t answer, instead, she walked to the TARDIS, and the door immediately swung open to allow her passage. The TARDIS trusted this mysterious lady of time. The Doctor followed, waves of relief and lightness flooded her soul once more, in her warm, safe, space. Though there was a notable absence, and it stabbed her in the heart like ice. Her anger was slowly turning to anxiety. Shame perhaps. Anna motioned towards the lever, and The Doctor cautiously held her hand out to it, but it just hovered there, shaking.

“Do you need a second?” Anna offered. She removed her gloves, and The Doctor nodded.

“No controlling.”

“I would never. Just sharing.”

Anna’s warm hand, rested lightly on top of The Doctor’s and guided it down. The switch clicked, and the engines of the ship started whirring. The Doctor was still nervous, but no longer paralysed by it. As the pair let go and the ship moved, she couldn’t stop looking at the mysterious character. There was so much she didn’t understand, but it was on the edge of her brain. She kept looking at her, for some clue, some answer, anything.

“Do you have family?”

Anna nodded. “A large one.”

“River is your mother, but you were never with her when we met.”

“No. Growing up she would go on her missions and somebody else would step in to look after me. I had, have, so many aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, whatever you like. You asked me how old I am. I’m not entirely sure, I was raised in many time periods, in many places.”

“And you’re a Time Lord. I didn’t think there were any of us left. Except the Master. I saw Gallifrey destroyed. Twice.” The Doctor turned to look at the map the TARDIS was following, “So how are you a full-blooded Time Lord?”

The thoughts and gears in her brains started whirring to life, spitting out hundreds of thousands of solutions and possibilities, even some impossible ones. The Doctor caught Anna looking at her with a strange half-smile. She knew something, but she wasn’t letting on. It was a puzzle The Doctor wanted to solve herself. As they travelled, pieces of it started to merge together. Then, a crystallisation of thought. One that shocked her right out of her own mind. Everything faded away. She couldn’t hear anything except four beating hearts. All was a blur, except Anna’s face, surrounded in glittering gold energy.

“Contact?” Anna’s voice was in her head, and she paused, before relenting. “Contact.”

Anna reached out, gently touching the Doctor’s temple, and she closed her eyes, hearing a child’s voice, a young Anna’s voice, though not what it said, except one word. One word that nobody should know. That nobody could know, except…she did. It was her name. The emotions overcame her, and she rested her head against Anna’s.

“You’re…mine?”

There was not a shadow of a doubt in her mind. Her heart, mind and soul were laid bare. She had a daughter. She had feelings that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Pride, protectiveness, fear, amazement, but mostly, love. A strong, fierce love that was beginning to dampen the flames of anger and resentment, that she felt starting to worm its way in.

“But…how? When?”

Anna smiled and pressed a finger to her lips, making a gentle shushing sound. “Another time. There will be another, I promise. But…”

“Spoilers,” understood The Doctor.

Immediately after that, the doors to the TARDIS slammed open, and three familiar figures came rushing in. Yas, Graham and Ryan were panting, and in night clothes. Yas’ face was clearly tear stained but Ryan discretely handed her a tissue to wipe it away.

“Doctor!” She cried, “What the hell was that?! You scared me!”

“Doc, you’re back! Are you ok?” Graham blurted.

“Um…who’s that?” Ryan had been the first to clock the curly-haired woman who had politely stepped back and was leaning against the far wall.

“That’s Anna,” The Doctor couldn’t stop herself from smiling, and even her friends noticed. There was a lightness in her that they hadn’t seen since the very beginning, “She’s, well, she’s my daughter, I suppose.”

“What?!” that was all three of them.

“Another time. But first of all, something really important…” she took a deep breath, glanced at Anna, who nodded, and then she swept forward, embracing her three friends for the first time since they had met. “I’m sorry. Really, really, really sorry.” She stepped back, and they were utterly stunned, “We really need to talk. There’s…a lot.”

“I’ll take my leave,” interjected Anna, straightening up and walking towards the group, “Don’t you have a really big problem to sort out?”

“Aren’t you coming?” The Doctor’s hearts sank, which was duly noted by her newly discovered offspring, who squeezed her hand, “I can’t, not to this one. No rest for the rehabilitator. But you know where I am.”

The confidence of the statement eased a lot of The Doctor’s fears as the strange woman headed towards the door. She would have asked how she would get back, but she had managed before. “Yasmin, Graham, Ryan?”

“Yes?” chorused the companions,

“Take care of her for me until I get back.” They, slightly confused, nodded. She looked over her shoulder, honing in on The Doctor, “See you when the sun rises.”

With that, she disappeared into the night. Leaving The Doctor, not magically 'fixed' but,calmed, focused, and most importantly, with her ‘fam’.


End file.
